Fight Yourself

Victim control. It is an essential element of stage combat, but often misunderstood, and more often performed badly. It means that when there is physical contact between two actors, the apparent victim is in charge. This principle applies to pushes, pulls, grabs, strangulation, hair pulls, and most falls and throws. Tyler Durdan Take a lesson…

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Victorian-Themed Halloween

October is the month of death and candy in North America, so let's talk about a steampunk-Holmes-Victorian Halloween. Besides your best clockwork sky pirate garb, I don't have costume ideas, just some inspiration and factoids. Jack the Ripper Synonymous with the words "serial killer", Jack the Ripper murdered female prostitutes in the Whitechapel district of…

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Sword …We mean Arrow; oops, sorry – Sword Press

Swords, bows and lances all compete for column-inch in today’s offering.  Whatever your preference in WMA/HEMA interests, it appears (in the press at least) that you’re not alone out there.   Not Your Padres’ Destreza   MSN (New Delhi, India) 15 October 12  Medieval fight club This is not so much a press report as…

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Choreography is a Physical Story

I just watched The Raid: Redemption (and I thought colons were only used for sequels, silly me!) which is a film that was hyped in martial arts cinema, and fits in the sub-genre of "Take The Castle". It's a fun genre. Troy is an excellent example: fortified city, army within besieged by an army without.…

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Steampunk Fights

Let's start with an analogy, not only because I have faith that my readers understand analogies, but also because you're guaranteed to understand this one: Jedi is to lightsabre as Steampunk is to Bartitsu Jedi don't have to use lightsabres (in fact, I'm surprised there aren't more who eschew them), it's just appropriate and therefore…

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The Princess Bride is NOT being Remade. Phew!

If you heard a rumour that the Princess Bride was going to be remade by the director of Juno, you'll be relieved (or god forbid, disappointed) to hear that it was a fabrication of overactive Internet imaginations. More can be read on TNT Magazine here - http://www.tntmagazine.com/entertainment/film/princess-bride-remake-rumours-h...So are you happy or disappointed about the news?…

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War Horse

I don't think I'll be going to see the movie "War Horse".  Not because I tend to find most Spielberg movies a bit too treacly, and not because most horse movies make me yell at the screen (why do movie makers think we won't notice when they swap a 16 hand bay for a chestnut…

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